![\"Phyllis](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190722_Megan_Guynes_Tree_Street_0029.jpg\")
<\/a>Megan Guynes \u201911 poses in front of Tree Street Youth, the Lewiston youth center where she has worked since 2012. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n
Guynes, who is from Los Angeles, is the program director of Tree Street Youth, a center founded by Bates graduates Julia Sleeper \u201908 and Kim Sullivan \u201913 that serves primarily immigrant and refugee children in Lewiston\u2019s downtown Tree Streets neighborhood.<\/p>\n
In the summer she organizes free camps for up to 150 kids a day, aimed at halting \u201csummer slide,\u201d when students forget what they learned during the school year.<\/p>\n From Kennebunk to Katahdin, from lobsters to lakes, we offer My Maine Summer \u2014 profiles of alumni<\/a> whose work, play, and family life has a distinctive Maine-in-summer vibe.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n Even over the phone, Guynes\u2019 love for the \u201ckiddos\u201d she sees every day is radiant.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve been able to do over time is get to know them as individuals and meet them where they are,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n At Tree Street Youth’s summer program, Megan Guynes \u201911 takes attendance before the morning routine for elementary school students starts.\u00a0 (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n But this particular summer is bittersweet. After working at Tree Street Youth in a variety of roles since 2012, she is leaving the center this week to pursue music full-time in Portland, Maine.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to go, because we have so many memories together,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve literally known the kids since they were in first grade, and I\u2019ve watched them grow up and known their families. I\u2019ve been able to reach a point where you\u2019re so connected that you feel it when someone\u2019s not around.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will forever be in my heart and I’m never too far. I love that I get to share this moment with them as they’ve shared so many of their special moments with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Megan Guynes \u201911 leads a chant as she takes kids to Tree Street Youth\u2019s gym for a beginning-of-the-day program. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n End of May, early June, I\u2019m thinking, \u201cSummer\u2019s on its way\u201d \u2014 but sometimes June is a little funny. At the end of August, beginning of September, summer is on its way out. We had our two months of glory.<\/p>\n Definitely, definitely, definitely! I love summers in Maine. I think it\u2019s really cool that you\u2019re able to be one with nature and have so much natural scenery around you, whether it\u2019s mountains or trees or wooded areas. There\u2019s so many cool things to do \u2014 bridge jumping, kayaking, skydiving. You can do that pretty much anywhere in the world, but it\u2019s different here because you have the nature aspect of it. It\u2019s authentic. It\u2019s not as hampered with big buildings or city skylines and all the things the world has become.<\/p>\n While taking attendance at Tree Street Youth, Megan Guynes \u201911 gets one of many hugs. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n I\u2019m pretty much everywhere. There are office-based things that are necessary to run the camp, but mostly I spend my time with the kiddos, because that\u2019s when you form relationships, when you\u2019re building bonds.<\/p>\n This year I started this thing called Circle of Love. It\u2019s a time when we can get together, go over the day, and build the connectivity and the energy and the bond between the kiddos, interns, and staff. We can be one well-oiled machine navigating throughout the different classes and random episodes of behaviors that may happen. When kids get cuts and bruises, they always know they have someone.<\/p>\n We also do something called Confident Fridays. There\u2019s one person that goes in the middle of a circle, and everyone around says something they value about them or they love about them. It\u2019s super cute.<\/p>\n Megan Guynes \u201911 and some participants in Tree Street Youth’s summer program dance during the morning routine. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n Being with the kiddos, man! Just being around the vibe and energy of Tree and the people that I work with. I think that\u2019s really rewarding because everything is so different. There are some days that present challenges that you have to navigate, and there are certain days that are incredibly amazing and just leave you on a high that\u2019s ethereal. You get something new every day, and you\u2019re able to find out new nuggets about different people every day.<\/p>\n I love music and the arts and theater, and I do a lot of that. I\u2019ve done stuff with the Maine State Music Theater this summer. At one point I did a production with Jonathan Schwolsky \u201915 and his company, Egg Salad Production. I hang out with friends and family when I can, I go to church every weekend and do a lot with the youth at my church as well, and I really just try to enjoy every moment as much as possible.<\/p>\nMy Maine Summer<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/a>At what point does summer begin? When does it end?<\/h5>\n
Do you look forward to summer?<\/h5>\n
<\/a>In the summer, do you spend much time in an office, or are you out with the kids?<\/h5>\n
<\/a>What is the most rewarding part of your job during the summer?<\/h5>\n
What do you do outside of work during the summer?<\/h5>\n